SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate
Caps finish season's series against Rangers in Sunday matinee, behind the scenes on the Mitchell Gibson ATO agreement, Kuemper starts, more
Right wing T.J. Oshie and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk will both miss today's game with upper body injuries, and goaltender Charlie Lindgren is out because of illness (more on that below). Sonny Milano missed each of the Caps' last three games with an upper body ailment of his own, but he will draw back into the lineup for today's game, as will defenseman Matt Irwin in order to cover for van Riemsdyk absence.
This is the first game this season that van Riemsdyk has missed because of injury; the only game he has missed to this point was because of the birth of his son last month.
Washington has won two of the three games between the two clubs this season, defeating the Rangers 4-0 in New York on Dec. 27 and downing them by a 6-3 count here in the District in a Saturday matinee match on Feb. 25.
In the most recent meeting between the two teams on March 14 in New York, the Rangers prevailed 5-3.
"I thought they played their best game the last time we played them, and they're preparing themselves [for the playoffs]," says Caps' coach Peter Laviolette. "We've got to play better than we did down in Tampa [on Thursday]. It was a tough scenario, flying down there and getting in at 3 [a.m.]. But we've had a couple of days off, and it's important for our guys to be ready.
"I've liked the way that we've handled their rush and handled them from a defensive standpoint for us in the first couple of games. And we've been able to do what we wanted to do offensively. So nothing really is going to change from that, but I really liked the first two games and I thought they probably played their best game against us in that last game."
Fourth Dimension - With Lindgren sidelined because of an illness, the Caps got creative in securing a backup goaltender for Darcy Kuemper for today's game against the Rangers. On Sunday morning, the Caps announced that they've signed goaltender Mitchell Gibson to an amateur tryout agreement (ATO). The goaltender is expected to sign an entry level deal at a later date.
Gibson was the Caps' fourth-round choice (124th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft. The 23-year-old native of Phoenixville, Penn. just completed his junior season at Harvard University where he has put up consistently solid numbers for three seasons. Talks between Gibson and the Capitals on an entry level deal have been in the works, but Lindgren's illness sent the Caps and Gibson down this temporary path first.
Caps' assistant general manager Don Fishman is a Harvard graduate and former Harvard broadcaster as well, and he has been Washington's salary cap guru for the better part of the last two decades. Simply put, the Caps did not have the cap space to recall a backup goaltender for today's game, and this is a situation that Fishman had been monitoring, and he alerted Gibson of the same after Harvard was eliminated from postseason tournament play last week.
The March 1 trade that sent center Lars Eller to Colorado involved the Caps retaining 31 percent of Eller's salary for this season, a figure that was settled upon in order to allow the Caps the salary cap space with which to bring John Carlson back from long term injury reserve on March 23. Fishman had in the back of his mind that an injury situation involving one of the goaltenders during the season's final weeks would open the door for this type of opportunity for Gibson, and when Lindgren was unable to practice on Saturday with the Caps, the wheels were set into motion.
"There was a plan in place," says Laviolette. "We knew that this could possibly be a scenario, and it's not like we were on the phone this morning. As soon as we found out that Chucky was ill, the plan went into place and [hockey operations] upstairs knew exactly what they were doing. And Scotty [Murray] our goalie coach was talking about it and the decision, and where [Gibson] was at. So he's here today."
Since the Caps famously selected Braden Holtby in the fourth round (93rd overall) in the 2008 NHL Draft, they've gone to the goaltending well in that round thrice, taking Philipp Grubauer in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft and grabbing Norwegian netminder Steffen Soberg in the same round (117th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft. Soberg was the Caps' first pick in that '11 Draft; Washington didn't have any selections in the first three rounds.
Months before Holtby ever stepped between the pipes for an NHL game, he himself served as a backup for the Caps, sitting on the bench for a game against the Rangers - albeit at Madison Square Garden in New York. That game took place on Feb. 4, 2010, and Holtby was recalled from AHL Hershey to backup Jose Theodore in a 6-5 victory over the Rangers in the second game of Washington's mentor's trip that season.
In The Nets - Kuemper will be in net for Washington this afternoon, starting for the fifth consecutive game for the Capitals.
Kuemper has posted a 2.47 GAA and a .923 save percentage in those four consecutive starts (1-2-1) leading into today's game. Over that span, he has stopped 28 of 32 high danger shots at five-on-five (.875 HDSV%) and has a high danger GAA of 1.03. Kuemper started 11 of Washington's 14 games in March and posted a 2.63 GAA and .920 save percentage, despite facing the second-most high danger shots against (89) in the NHL during the month (stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com).
The Capitals have scored an average of 2.73 goals per game with Kuemper between the pipes this season, the fourth-lowest average in the NHL for a goaltender with at least 50 starts (Anaheim: 2.34 GF/GP with John Gibson; Nashville: 2.56 GF/GP with Juuse Saros; Philadelphia: 2.56 GF/GP with Carter Hart). This season, the Capitals have a record of 18-3-2 when they score three or more goals with Kuemper in net.
Lifetime against the Rangers, Kuemper is 8-2-0 with a couple of shutouts, a 2.42 GAA and a .913 save pct. in 10 appearances (all starts).
For the Rangers, we are expecting to see Igor Shesterkin in the crease today. Last season's Vezina Trophy winner, Shesterkin has 34 victories on the season, tied for third in the League. He went 8-3-0 in 11 starts in the month of March, recording a shutout, a 2.08 GAA and a .932 save pct. in the process.
Over the course of his career against the Capitals, Shesterkin is 5-3-0 in eight appearances (all starts) with a 2.90 GAA and a .912 save pct.
All Lined Up - Here's how the Caps and the Rangers might look on Sunday afternoon in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 19-Backstrom, 59-Protas
39-Mantha, 92-Kuznetsov, 16-Smith
73-Sheary, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Jensen
52-Irwin, 27-Alexeyev
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
78-Gibson
Healthy Extras
None
Injured/out
28-Brown (lower body)
57-van Riemsdyk (upper body)
62-Hagelin (hip)
77-Oshie (upper body)
79-C. Lindgren (illness)
NEW YORK
Forwards
10-Panarin, 93-Zibanejad, 91-Tarasenko
20-Kreider, 16-Trocheck, 88-Kane
13-Lafreniere, 72-Chytil, 24-Kaako
26-Vesey, 21-Goodrow, 14-Motte
Defensemen
77-Mikkola, 23-Fox
79-Miller, 8-Trouba
5-Harpur, 4-Schneider
Goaltenders
31-Shesterkin
41-Halak
Healthy Extras
None
Injured/out
55-R. Lindgren (upper body)
